How to plan the perfect shower
The 2024 baseline study on bathrooms clearly showed that the shower plays a central role in people’s everyday lives. 84% of those surveyed gave particularly high priority to the size and design of their shower compared to almost half this amount when it came to their bath tub (45%). At the same time, the shower is the number one renovation product: since 2017, the number of bathrooms with a shower has risen from 66% to 76%.
This makes it clear: for many people, showering means far more than just a quick wash in the morning. They regard their shower as a place of retreat, a feel-good area, somewhere to switch off and wind down. A drab shower tray and a feeble DIY-store shower head simply don’t live up to this.
You presumably see the matter similarly, otherwise you wouldn’t be here – and you’re in good company. This is because bathroom expert and interior designer Oliver Selner, aka Stil_11, is accompanying us through this article. Together with the professional, we will answer all the most important questions about how to plan your perfect shower – from the basics right down to the final details.
But before we delve any deeper into bathroom planning, we’d like to take a moment to briefly introduce our guest.
A short biography: who is Oliver Selner?
Oliver knows bathrooms like the back of his hand: 20 years in the trade, including ten in customer service, have familiarised him with almost every problem there is. He later shifted his focus to bathroom planning, including consultation and visualisation, while also completing distance learning on interior design.
In 2022, he established his own company Stil 11 and quickly became well-known thanks to his creative, customer-oriented approach to planning. Today, he and his wife Lorena have over 125,000 Instagram followers – and his planning appointments are fully booked way in advance.
The Tao of the bathroom: why a custom approach is so important when planning a bathroom
We’d also like to look at a further important aspect before diving any deeper into the topic: there is no such thing as the perfect bathroom or, with it, the perfect shower, at least not universally speaking. After all, everyone is different and what sounds perfect to one person, others wouldn’t touch with a bargepole. A couple in a city is likely to have different needs to a family in the suburbs: one may like things colourful while the other prefers them more modest. Then, there are naturally also the matters of budget and space.
For Oliver, bathroom planning therefore always begins with an extensive consultation that involves three things above all else: getting to know the client, listening to them and understanding their needs. Only once he’s obtained a clear picture of the client’s wishes, expectations and possibilities does the planning process truly begin.
For us, bathroom planning always starts with understanding our clients. What are their needs and what really matters to them? After all, bathroom are all as unique as the people who use them every day.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
We see things that way too. A good company should never tell you what your bathroom should look like. It should give you tips and advice, and show you what is possible. All of the suggestions that we are about to make are therefore based on this premise. Everything is optional, nothing is mandatory, and what ultimately matters the most is that you really feel at home in your shower.
Planning your perfect shower: from the first step to the final touch
Enough introductory information, we now come to the core part of our article: how can you design your very own dream shower step by step? The possibilities may be infinite but if you take a structured approach, you’re sure to succeed. Start by considering the following questions:
#1 Floor-level shower or shower tray?
According to our expert, most people go for walk-in showers as these often look more modern, comfortable and homely. However, some customers still prefer a classic shower tray. We’d therefore like to present a comparison of the two options.
My tip for those who enjoy a particularly warm environment when showering: install infrared lights in your shower area and bid farewell to chattering teeth once and for all.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
Want to start planning your shower right away?
So what’s better, a shower with a tray or a floor-level shower?
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to the question of whether to choose a walk-in shower or one with a tray. What matters is which model best fits your life. If you like to shower with your partner, opt for a large walk-in model. If you prefer a cosy experience and to shower alone, then simply go for a model with a tray.
If you’re planning a fully accessible bathroom, a floor-level shower should be your model of choice. If, on the other hand, you want to give a homely feel to very small bathroom, you’re often better with a compact shower with a tray. If your shower area is your go-to place for wellbeing, opt for a walk-in model whereas if you simply regard it as a place to wash and prefer to relax in the garden, go for a shower tray.
We’re not here to force you into anything but to help you find your perfect shower.
#2: Shower with a masonry partition or a glass screen?
When planning a floor-level shower in particular, the question often arises of how to separate the wet area from the rest of the bathroom – with a solid wall (whether plastered or tiled) or a glass screen?
The following apply:
Solid walls provide a clear feeling of permanence and stability. If you want to fully withdraw when showering and focus entirely on yourself, then a wall between you and the rest of the bathroom is ideal.
The world can remain outside. You’re in your own little realm and life elsewhere can gladly go on without you for a few minutes while you fully submerge yourself in the water, warmth and soothing echo.
Glass screens, on the other hand, make the room feel far more open. Even at first glance, they appear friendlier and more inviting. If you’ve really gone to town when designing the interior of your shower, glass also doesn’t conceal the view of your little work of art. After all, they say we also bathe with our eyes.
Furthermore, many people like the fact that a glass screen enables them to keep an eye on the bathroom. Who just opened the door? This question may not seem important for some couples but, if not before, once your children’s friends start coming round to visit, you’ll quickly realise the importance of a clear view of things.
#3: Which tiles are suitable for showers?
This question is extremely difficult to answer as tiles don’t just seem to be available in thousands of different colours, shapes and designs, they really are. As such, we simply provide the following advice:
Horizontal tiles …
… i.e. tiles with a pattern and joints that run horizontally in lines give bathrooms a cosy and homely ambience. There’s no rushing around here, only relaxation. The bathroom is a calm place where people can take their time.
Vertical tiles …
… i.e. all designs that draw the eye upward, on the other hand, evoke a luxury feel. There’s good reason why the executive offices of this world are always found on the top floor. If you want your bathroom to radiate quality, go for a vertical look.
Additional tip from our pro
Oliver also recommends using feature walls to make the shower area stand out from the rest of the bathroom. This not only enhances the design impact but also increases the feel-good factor: the shower becomes even more of a little oasis, made for escaping everyday life for just a few moments.
Never let yourself be persuaded that something in your bathroom is a planning error. Whether tiles at different heights, a suspended ceiling or a double wash basin, if you love it, then you’ve planned it perfectly.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
#4: Is spray protection really a must for the shower?
From curtains and folding doors to sliding screens, there are many ways to keep water in your shower. However, these aren’t always necessary as if you shower carefully, the water won’t spray anywhere near as far as you might expect.
The main decisive factors here are your shower’s drain area and which shower heads and spray types you’ve installed. If you have massage sprays on the walls or your children play in the shower, it goes without saying that spray protection makes complete sense. In a walk-in shower that is only used by adults, however, a 1.5 m² area is plenty for not needing any other form of partition.
“Well-planned walk-in showers rarely need spray protection. The few droplets that don’t land in the drain area can be wiped away in two seconds with a squeegee.” – Oliver Selner, bathroom expert and owner of Stil 11
Again, the rest is a matter of personal preference. If the gentle thump of the shower cabin door closing offers you greater peace of mind and makes you feel more comfortable, then install a door. It’s your bathroom and your little realm.
#5: Overhead shower, hand shower or both?
Let’s start by briefly explaining the difference:
An overhead shower is a shower head that is permanently installed on a wall and that sprays water onto your body from above. Such designs are also sometimes known as ceiling showers or, as they offer a showering experience like standing in the rain, rain showers.
A hand shower, on the other hand, is attached to a flexible hose and, as the name infers, held in the hand. When not in use, it can be placed in a bracket on either the wall or a shower rail.
Enough theory, let’s move on to some practical advice:
Overhead showers
offer a particularly relaxing showering experience. The water runs evenly over your entire body without any concentrated areas, and the spray feels gentle and enjoyable. Like a refreshing downpour on a beautiful summer’s day.
look modern and luxurious. Especially in floor-level showers, they create open and spacious-looking shower areas. With rain showers, it’s all about the wellness factor.
keep your hands free, making it easy to apply shampoo and shower gel without having to juggle with a hand shower.
Hand showers
are better for washing individual areas of the body. If you’ve been out in the garden barefoot, you’ll appreciate the hand shower.
is extremely practical. Whether you want to rinse taps, fill a bucket with water or wash muddy shoes, the hand shower makes all of these tasks easier.
is preferred by many people when washing their hair. Long, thick hair in particular needs a lot of care and intensive washing. The targeted spray from a hand shower is often beneficial here.
Shower heads – a summary
In the opinion of our professional and in line with our own experience, the combination of an overhead shower and a hand shower is usually the best solution. The overhead shower injects a feeling of wellness into the bathroom. Once you’ve stood below its gentle spray, you’ll never want to shower in any other way again. The hand shower, on the other hand, provides great flexibility – and sometimes, a hot, hard water spray directed right at your painful shoulder can be exactly what you need.
I almost always recommend a combination of an overhead shower and a hand shower. A small hand shower offers so many benefits that it will be painfully missed if you don’t have one and ever come to need one.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
And what about the shower rail?
Should you go for a shower rail? Many people find such rails visually intrusive. Just another feature that protrudes into the bathroom. They prefer a wall bracket. However, there a few solid arguments from professionals in favour of a shower rail:
If shorter people live in your home, usually children, a height-adjustable shower rail is extremely beneficial. This is because they can set the shower head to the height they need. The shower grows with them. However, even couples without children can benefit from the flexibility of a shower rail. For example, a 1.60 m woman might love the bracket being at the perfect height for her but a 2.00 m man would be less enthused about the shower head only reaching his chest.
#6: What should you consider with regard to the fixtures in your shower?
Choosing the right fixtures is just as complicated as choosing the right tiles. The designs, functions and possibilities available are seemingly endless. Instead of proposing a specific model, we’d rather explain some of the most important considerations:
High quality
High-quality fixtures don’t have to be expensive. This is because the same applies here as for almost any other product: you can potentially pay a huge amount just because a shower head has a designer brand’s name on it. In this case, the relation between cost and benefit gets completely out of hand. At the same time, cheap is rarely a good investment. Fixtures from the bargain bin in a DIY store won’t offer you joy for long. They can quickly become calcified and blocked or start to leak, not to mention that cheap fixtures often look cheap too.
Product care
Another important aspect with regard to bathroom fixtures is product care. At our latitude, limescale is the most common problem as, in many regions, European soil and therefore the water contains particularly high levels of lime. Together with Oliver, we therefore always recommend shower heads with an anti-limescale function. These models can be identified by the silicone nozzles on the tap aerator and the spray nozzles on the shower heads. Any limescale residue that collects on these can simply be wiped away after showering. This largely prevents blockages.
We personally advise against overhead showers with a drip stop function. Although rain showers in particular always drip a little after use, there is good reason for this: the shower head contains little chambers that store water and mix it with air before it is sprayed out. This creates the rain effect. It is therefore only natural for a little water to drip due to gravity once the shower has been turned off. If this water is not allowed to drip out, the same occurs as with standing bodies of water: life forms, which can primarily be noticed in a bathroom through the emission of unpleasant-smelling foul gases. Instead of using a drip stop, we therefore recommend simply turning the shower head slightly to one side to minimise dripping without stopping it entirely.
Accentuation
Last but not least, a special tip from Oliver: use shower fixtures to add accent colours to your bathroom. As an insider, he has revealed that coloured fixtures are no longer as expensive as they were a few years ago.
“Shower fixtures are a great way of adding a special touch to the bathroom. If you take a little time when choosing them, they can quickly make a simple shower area beautifully eye-catching.”
– Oliver Selner, bathroom expert and owner of Stil 11
Whether elegant taps in a bronze finish or black fixtures in a white shower area, anything is possible without having to pay out twice as much. So give free rein to your imagination.
Discover the range of colours of hansgrohe products for your shower place
#7: Also consider the lighting in your shower
Although this topic is far too diverse to illuminate in full detail, Oliver says that few things are more important when perfectly designing a shower than the lighting. He is in complete agreement with our own in-house expert Natascha Beha here, as she too swears by sophisticated lighting concepts for the bathroom.
As a general rule of thumb, more light always looks better. From spotlights all over the ceiling to illuminated mirrors, lamps as highlights and coloured LED strips around the shower, what applies to tiles and shower fixtures, does so even more when it comes to lighting: your possibilities are endless. As such, we advise moving away from a single, sad ceiling light in the bathroom and instead obtaining support from design professionals to make your shower area a genuine dream setting through accent lighting.
The difference that lighting can make to a bathroom is amazing. Think accent lighting, individual lighting zones and different lighting colours – especially when combined with various ceiling heights. The right lighting truly rounds off a bathroom.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
#8: Don’t forget about sustainability
Environmental protection is an aspect that affects us all, and you can make a decent contribution to this when planning your shower – while also saving money. A win-win situation.
We naturally turn to look at the shower fixtures here. These should be durable and of high quality, as throwing things away is never good for the environment. Far more important, however, is the amount of water that runs through the shower heads. The right shower head makes an enormous difference as water-saving technology can reduce usage by up to 60 percent. This is made possible by an innovative flow limiter. But before you say “That sounds great but too little water will come out of my shower”, we’d like to let Oliver tell you something:
No-one has ever complained to me about a difference in the volume of water. On the contrary, people love the way the spray feels on their skin. The water comes out of the shower head more gently and feels more like a warm rain shower. As an added bonus, it also generates less splashback.
Oliver Selner, interior designer and owner of Stil11.
Planning your shower – the next step is down to you
You now know exactly what to consider when planning your shower. Whether you choose a floor-level shower or one with a tray, a glass or masonry partition and a rain shower or a hand shower (or ideally both) is entirely up to you. The finished design should be your dream shower. Discover the possibilities available to you instead of being dictated to. You can even start your journey of discovery right away by planning your bathroom on your PC with our hansgrohe 3D Inspirator tool – and that naturally includes your shower, which will soon become your new favourite place. Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing after all that Stil 11 doesn’t have any free appointments coming up.
Frequently asked questions about planning the perfect shower
Start with the basics (available space, budget, users, desired comfort and design style) then choose your shower type (walk-in or with a tray), shower partition, shower heads, taps, tiles and lighting.
Walk-in showers look more modern and spacious but take up more room and are more expensive. Showers with trays are compact and cost less. The best solution depends on the size of your room, your comfort needs and your requirements with regard to accessibility.
The minimum standard dimensions are approx. 90 × 90 cm. For walk-in showers without spray protection, experts recommend a size of around 120 × 120 cm or more, depending on your showering behaviour and spray types.
Not necessarily. If the area is large enough and you shower carefully, you don’t need a door. In the case of children, massage sprays or very powerful sprays, additional protection is recommended.
Both! An overhead shower provides a feeling of wellness while a hand shower offers flexibility and is perfect for cleaning or washing targeted areas. A combination of the two is ideal.
Large, non-slip tiles are easy to clean and safe. Horizontal installation looks cosy while vertical designs makes the room seem higher. Feature walls create your very own place of retreat.
Very. Lighting zones, LEDs and accent lighting change the atmosphere and level of safety. A single ceiling light is not usually enough.
Choose water-saving showers with EcoSmart technology that enrich water with air. These reduce your water consumption by up to 60%.